Chennai: Yashaswini Ghorpade, the bronze medal winner at the recent Khelo India Games in Indore, playing her role as a senior pro to perfection, helped Karnataka enter the semi-finals of the Youth Girls Under-19 team events of the UTT 84th Inter-State Youth and Junior National Championships at the Nehru Indoor Stadium today.
But Haryana had to fight much harder to book their semi-final berth after the team was in a precarious position in the decider.
Karnataka downed Tamil Nadu 3-1 and will run into Maharashtra, who defeated Uttar Pradesh with an identical verdict, in the semi-finals later tonight. In the third quarterfinal, West Bengal thrashed Telangana 3-0, and Haryana made a great escape, beating Delhi 3-2 in a thriller.
Tamil Nadu’s over-reliance on Kavyashree Baskar and youngster M. Hansini was a cardinal blunder on the part of the hosts. The same could be said about Karnataka banking heavily on Yashaswini. But the only difference between the two states was Yashaswini’s ability to deliver the goods in times of need.
She first beat Hansini for zilch and repeated her fine form in the reverse singles to outsmart Kavyashree. Though the latter tried all tricks in her back to pull it off in the second extended game, it was too much for the Tamil Nadu girl.
Taneesha did a Yashaswini in their match against UP, and she accounted for both Avani Tripathi and Suhani Mahajan after Jennifer Varghese failed to overcome Suhana Mahajan in the second rubber. However, Sayali Wani provided the 2-1 lead before Taneesha completed the job.
Haryana had their foot in the mouth in the decisive marathon rubber when Delhi led 2-1. After Sayanika Maji put Delhi 2-1 up, the onus was on experienced Suhana, who raised her game to beat Lakshita Narang in straight games. But it was equally pertinent for Prithoki Chakraborti to do an encore after she lost her first singles to Lakshita. Prithoki managed to win the second and, despite losing the third, came back strongly to beat Avisha Karmakar, who wilted under pressure. rubber. However, Sayali Wani provided the 2-1 lead before Taneesha completed the job.
Tamil Nadu huffed and puffed its way into the quarterfinals after Rajasthan fought back well to level the score. But Amrutha Nalene, who earlier lost to Samaira Sharma in the second rubber, held her nerves to beat Sunidhi Dewala 3-1 in the deciding fifth rubber.
Unlike yesterday, Kavyashree Baskar put Tamil Nadu in the lead, beating Sunidhi 11-5, 11-6, 7-11, 7-11, 12-10 in the opening tie. But she failed to seal the fate of Rajasthan when M. Hansini thrashed Pranshi Mishra 11-7, 12-10, 11-3 to provide their team with a 2-1 cushion as Samaira downed the tall TN girl 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-6.
Yet, Amrutha shook off initial inhibitions and the second game setback to beat Sunidhi 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 11-0.
Satya Aspathi of Telangana made amends for the loss of her team’s second tie when she beat S. Tia Mundenkurian 3-1 (12-10, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, saving the blushes as Kerala held on to it firmly till the fourth rubber.
Pranati P. Nair, the most experienced player for Kerala, levelled the score after Tia lost her opening tie to Bhaavitha Nagulapalli 4-11, 4-11, 7-11. Pranati beat Satya 11-9, 11-5, 10-12, 13-15, 11-8. Cicily Maria provided the impetus, defeating Ikshitha Koride 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 7-11, 11-8. But Bhaavitha beat Pranati 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8 to leave Satya to give the finishing touch.
Karnataka dropped the first tie when Anargaya Manjunath lost to Bhumika Kaushik 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-3. However, it did not make any difference to the final results as Yashaswini Ghorpade outplayed Harshita Das 11-7, 11-3, 11-2 and returned to the table to beat Bhumika 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 in her reverse singles. In between, Deshna Vanshika beat Bhavna Kashyap 11-6, 11-3, 9-11, 11-7 to cement their place in the quarterfinals.
But for these, the other pre-quarterfinals were one-sided as the favourite teams made the grade.
Results (Team):
Youth Girls (U-19): Quarterfinals: Maharashtra bt Uttar Pradesh 3-1 (Taneesha Kotecha bt Avani Tripathi 11-3, 11-8, 11-7, Jennifer Varghese lost to Suhani Mahajan 8-11, 11-4, 8-11, 6-11, Sayali Wani bt Ambika Gupta 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 5-11, 11-4; Taneesha Kotecha bt Suhani Mahajan 11-6, 11-9, 11-7); Karnataka bt Tamil Nadu 3-1 (Anargaya Manjunath lost to Kavyashree Baskar 8-11, 9-11, 9-11, Yashaswini Ghorpade bt M. Hansini 11-7, 11-2, 11-4, Deshna Vanshika bt Sharvani Nagam 11-5, 11-8, 11-9, Yashaswini Ghorpade be Kavyashree Baskar 11-4, 13-12, 11-9); West Bengal bt Telangana 3-0 (Oishiki Joardar bt Satya Aspathi 11-3, 11-8, 11-8, Syndrerla Das bt Bhaavitha Nagulapalli 11-8, 11-6, 11-7, Nandini Sahab t Ikshitha Koride 11-7, 11-3, 11-4); Haryana bt Delhi 3-2 (Suhana Saini bt Avisha Karmakar 11-8, 11-8, 11-4, Prithoki Chakraborty lost to Lakshita Narang 6-11, 7-11, 3-11, Kavya Yadav lost to Sayanika Maji 3-11, 12-10, 11-3, 6-11, 3-11, Suhana Saini bt Lakshita Narang 11-8-12-10, 11-6, Prithoki Chakraborti bt Avisha Karmakar 12-14, 12-10, 11-13, 11-6, 11-6).
Pre-quarterfinals: Maharashtra bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0; Uttar Pradesh bt Bihar 3-0; Tamil Nadu bt Rajasthan 3-2; Karnataka bt Assam 3-1; West Bengal bt Gujarat 3-1; Telangana bt Kerala 3-2; Delhi bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0; Haryana bt Goa 3-0.
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Favourite teams advance, Gujarat and UP on a razor’s edge
